New weight loss drug by Pfizer shows promising results in trial

Pfizer acquired the drug’s developer following a bidding war with Novo Nordisk last year

The pharmaceutical corporation Pfizer announced Tuesday that its experimental weight loss jab showed solid results when taken monthly during an ongoing mid-stage clinical trial.

Adults with obesity using the GLP-1 receptor agonist class drug known as “PF-08653944” shed up to 12.3 percent of their body weight compared with a placebo drug after 28 weeks, the New York City-based drugmaker said in a statement.

And there was no observed plateau in the rate of people’s weight loss by week 28, suggesting that weight loss will continue through week 64 and the study’s end.

Dr. Albert Bourla, the company’s CEO, told CNBC on Tuesday that the data are “very good.”

“And we are saying one clear thing, that we have a monthly product that has a very competitive profile in tolerability and efficacy,” he said.

Pfizer Chairman and CEO Dr. Albert Bourla said Tuesday that data from a mid-stage clinical trial of the drugmaker’s experimental weight loss jab were ‘very good’ (Getty Images)

Side effects of the drug were similar to others on the market, and were “predominantly mild or moderate with no more than one instance of severe nausea or vomiting observed in any dose group.”

Of the 108 patients who took the drug in two separate arms of the trial, 10 discontinued treatment due to adverse side effects.

“These top line results from the Phase 2b VESPER-3 study reinforce the potential of PF-08653944 as a monthly treatment with competitive efficacy,” Dr. Jim List, Pfizer’s Chief Internal Medicine Officer, said.

“Based on the monthly dosing efficacy and tolerability demonstrated in this trial, we remain confident in our plan to include a higher 9.6-milligram monthly maintenance dose of PF’3944 in Phase 3.”

The drug was made by developer Metsera, which Pfizer acquired in a bidding war with competitor Novo Nordisk last year.

Pfizer and other drugmakers are trying to break into a market that has been dominated by competitors Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly over the past year (AFP via Getty Images)

Pfizer has an uphill battle in the fight to break into the weight loss drug market.

For one, they’re not the only company knocking on its doors.

The California biotech company Amgen is testing MariTide as a monthly injection. It has several Phase 3 trials underway.

And market big dogs Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk are working on their own more effective shots, in addition to daily pills.

Eli Lilly said in December that its next-generation GLP-1 obesity drug retatrutide helped people lose more weight than any other weight-loss drug during a late-stage trial.

Patients using the highest dose of the once-weekly shot, over the course of 68 weeks, lost an average of up to 71.2 pounds at the end of the Phase 3 clinical trial.